Monday, April 19, 2010

President Obama is flying to Los Angeles today to star at a fundraiser for US Sen. Barbara Boxer . Though Boxer was well received at the California Democratic Convention on Saturday, she faces a tough reelection campaign because of anti-incumbent fever.

The new LGBT activist group GetEQUAL is planning to demonstrate over Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. GetEqual is the group Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo represented when they handcuffed themselves to the White House gates last month over DADTand conducted a sit-in at Speaker Pelosi’s DC and SF offices to protest Congress’s failure to to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

4 comments:

while I respect Lt Choi and Ms McGeehee for doing what the HRC refuses to do, I don't think Pres Obama is the right target.The Pres signed the Matt Shepard Hate Crimes bill, and the order giving gay couples power of attorney in medical decisions and hospital visits--he's also publicly condemned DADT and DOMA.Obama is not the problem.

The problem comes from within. Our "advocacy groups" are run by self serving, power mad creeps who ignore us~~they need to be held accountable.In the comments section of Why Do We Hate Each Other So Much, a Bilerico post from 3/7/10, a nationally known gay activist freely and publicly admits to discrediting gay people whom he "dislikes".Bastards like that is the problem. Pres Obama is not.

David: President Obama definitely is part of the problem. He has been all over the map on queer issues. He involved Rick Warren in the inauguration, put shockingly homophobic comments in his DOMA defense in court, and has played every sneaky, manipulative game in the book on the military ban.

David, the Hate Crimes bill passed congress in 2007. It was barely in doubt and the President didn't use the bully pulpit for it. The hospitalization thing is great, and should have been done on his first day in office. Publicly condemning DADT is meaningless if he isn't willing to step up to see it get done. One sentence in the State of the Union speech has led to zero movement on the Hill because to be blunt, the President hasn't been leading the charge.

And yes, I expect him to lead the charge on issues like this, especially since that's how he got so many LGBT votes in the first place.

President Obama has misjudged us. He thinks we're willing to sit on our hands and watch time run out *again*. Ain't gonna happen, and hopefully tonight showed him that. If not, we can give him another demonstration next time, and the next, and the next. He can expect to hear from us at every chance until he does what's right.

I agree that groups like HRC have done little to help us. Some (I'm one of them) would even say that they've hurt our forward momentum and are dragging us backward. It's time they get in line with the community or get out of our way.